Then Buck and Byrd flew south-west for the Pittsburgh playoff run, leaving behind a Single-A prospect, Dilson Herrera, who may be ready to join the big leagues by 2016.

Will Matt Harvey be back by then?

We Met fans are used to adversity, to bad news, to waiting till next year. But this year, "next year" really seemed like THE YEAR. Now next year may be 2015, or 2016, or the next time the Mets host an All-Star game.

Clearly, the news of this week has reshaped the thinking for next year. Andy Martino reports that now Met offseason plans will probably include hunting down a veteran, proven starter. And of course, we need proven bats, in abundance. Amidst all this change, will the Wilpons be seeking a new manager as well? Sounds like Collins will survive. And Loge13 thinks Terry has earned the right to come back. Let's just lend this mess as gently as possible in September and move on.

Meanwhile, if we are indeed looking for a veteran starter, how about RA Dickey? Toronto has probably seen enough.

Legendary music promoter Sid Bernstein died August 21, 2013, at the age of 95. Bernstein was best known for booking many of the best British Invasion bands, including The Beatles.

Sid is also credited with the bold plan to book The Beatles at Shea Stadium. As Mark Lapidos, founder of BeatleFest, put it in a touching tribute:He had this idea of presenting The Beatles at Shea Stadium. He phone
Beatles manager Brian Epstein with the idea. Brian was hesitant, not
wanting his Beatles to play to any empty seats. Sid boldly guaranteed to
purchase any unsold seats and the deal was made. The Beatles at Shea
became the first of its kind and to most famous single concert in
history, August 15, 1965.

And overnight, Sid invented the stadium rock concert. The world needs more great thinkers like Sid. Rock on.

The Kingman family made its now annual trek to BeatleFest. We first attended two years ago and got to meet Met great Art Shamsky, who was there signing his book.

As always, Shea Stadium was well represented amongst the Beatle memorabilia. We spoke with the collector who owns the jacket Paul wore at Shea Stadium. Those threads are valued at $300,000. Apparently, George's estate owns his coat and Ringo may have his. Not sure where John's is.

The all-day Beatle jams are a highlight. Here is a sample from this year, featuring a puppet singalong as well:

Among the few items not auctioned off by the Wilpons when Shea was demolished...the patent on Shea Stadium's innovative "Convertible Stadium."

This cutting edge technology patent covered the movable seats that let Shea host both baseball and football games. Sadly, this patent did not ensure the teams you watched from your movable seat would be good.

Max just sold some previously unseen pictures for $45,000. Now all the buyer has is a photograph and I realize Shea's not coming back anymore.

Full story here:In 1965, amateur photographer Marc Weinstein used a fake press pass to get police to escort him stage-side at the historic Beatles concert in Shea Stadium. Now, almost 50 years later, he has sold all 61 of the images he captured there for a whopping £30,000 (or about $45,500). The story involves a little bit of bravery, a little bit of trickery, and a lot of luck.

The Beatles' 1965 concert at Shea Stadium would go down in history as the biggest concert the band would ever play. Taking place at the height of their fame, McCartney, Lenon, Star and Harrison played for a then record-breaking crowd of over 55,000 people that day. One of those people was Marc Weinstein and his fake press pass. He tells Examiner.com,

"I just blended with everybody there. I had a method of operation; I just acted like I belonged. Anybody in authority, I would look the other way."

The method seemed to work for him, because he was ultimately able to trick police men into escorting him right to the front of the stage. That's where, as luck would have it, the only other photographer present happen to run out of film, which is probably why the photos sold a few days ago through Omega Auctions for about £10,000 more than anticipated.

The winner of the auction was Paul Fairweatherm, a "huge collector of Beatles memorabilia" who currently resides in Washington with 61 new black and white photos of his favorite band and about 45,500 fewer dollars to his name.